It's a "rest of the world" thing, Dingle. We'll never get it. I mean, who'd want a bunch of ashes anyhow? But those crazy Brits and Aussies... You never know what is going to get them excited.

hahaha who the hell gets 2 of their players run out in the ashes last test chasing over 500, but the ashes are back where they belong, and fair well to freddy you were a legend mate

England +1

Whoop whoop!!

Just to make you all envious, I was one of 23,000 lucky souls who was there at the Oval yesterday. Words fail to describe how happy I am.

Thank you Straussy, and Fred, Broady and Swanny. What a wonderful couple of months.

Well, a pretty nervous couple of months really. We were awful at times. But the result is what matters.

tsk tsk tsk.

So England has won the ashes how many times in the last 11?
A. 0?
B. 1?
C. 2?

First correct answer gets to recruit a South African to their test team.

2. I'd like to recruit Kepler Wessels, but unfortunately Australia got there first...

and out come the moaning aussies was only a matter of time.@cgwhite you lucky lucky lucky bastard

haha

Unlike Ricky Ponting, I can be gracious in defeat. It was a good series. One that cost me many hours of sleep. It's what test cricket is about, and the only series internationally in which test cricket matters. We'll be back in 2013, preferably with a new captain, and 5-0 will be the scoreline!!

Jarrah, I'm disappointed in you! You should know how comparatively poor this Australian team is compared to the previous 10 Ashes squads - there aren't many Aussie teams that would capitulate in two separate Ashes Tests in such spectacular fashion. And never have I seen such poor decision making as to have two run outs and a stumping in the top 6 when chasing such a large score.
And whilst I don't necessarily agree with Trott playing for England (although, according to Wikipedia, his grandparents are English), KP has an English mother, so in my book that gives him every right to pick which team to play for.

@cgwhite - nice one! I was walking out to bat as someone declared that Hussey was last man out. Sadly I didn't last as long as him!

Oops, looks like my post was a little too preemptive...

:-)

A colleague called me unaustralian for supporting the lynching of a national captain!! If Ponting's good enough and still fit and firing in 2013, then send him back as a batsman, but not captain. Clarke's speech accepting the Aus player of the series was gracious, and his understanding of the game is great. Make him captain.

Yes, this was the weakest team we've sent to your shores since 1985. The selectors are to blame. Players like Klinger, Rogers, Quiney, Voges, McGain would have been better than Hughes (and half of the other batsmen too)

I shall finish with a quote from your national broadsheet:

Victory will presumably result in the traditional award of MBEs to everybody who’s done his bit for England this summer, in which case Rudi Koertzen, Billy Bowden and Asad Rauf are absolute certainties for a gong. But while England owe a serious debt to a set of umpires who really ought to have been sponsored by Specsavers rather than Emirates, if you measure these things in order of importance, nothing less than a knighthood will suffice for the Oval groundsman.

you forget that both teams had to bat on the oval wicket and there were 3 scores of 300+ not the groundsmans fault australia collapsed,and for every bad decision that went englands way a bad decision went australias way.you got a link to that quote as well?

As you can tell by my discussion, it's not my quote but that of The Times. I haven't made any excuses (unlike Mr Ponting)
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/cricket/article6806490.ece

If there's any fault to be ascribed for the umpiring, it's got to be with the ICC. In their infinite wisdom, they declared this series to be the last test series ever WITHOUT player initiated video referrals. If these referrals would have existed, the quality of decisions for both sides would have been better. If me sitting in my loungeroom knows a decision has been wrongly made before the batsman leaves the ground, why can't the officiating umpire?

It was a great series, I even put a small wager on England right after the 4th test when they were 5:1, but I think Strauss is right in pointing out that at the moment England and Australia are both in pretty poor shape, and the Ashes isn't the deciding series it used to be. I'm looking forward to seeing if England can improve

Yes, (I think) the teams are now rated 4th and 7th (with Australia ahead of England) and in the one-dayers, Australia's now ranked 3rd. I sold out and got odds of 1.30 as England's final innings lead approached 500, so I made a modest profit as compensation for being bagged by every English person in Australia (and there's millions of you here!!!!!)

"I shall finish with a quote from your national broadsheet:"

Don't. The sports writers in most newspapers are pretty little short of tossers. The groundsman did well to make an oval wicket where a result was possible, and given the first innings batting performance that Australia had, they cannot complain at all.